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TCA Project: 1st Seminar on decent work in supply chains held in Copenhagen

On 21 June, the Employers' Activities Programme of the ITCILO, together with the project partner, the Confederation of the Danish Industry, held in Copenhagen the first workshop of the EU co-funded project on transnational company agreements.

The meeting explored the role of transnational company agreements as one of the possible tools available to multinational companies and global unions to uphold Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in supply chains. The seminar also looked into the UN framework of human rights and business as to facilitate companies absolve their “duty to respect” human rights and carry out their due diligence process.

The seminar gathered around 60 participants, representing multinational companies across Europe and employers’ organisations, including the International Organisation of Employers and BusinessEurope. The meeting offered the opportunity to companies to share their experience in upholding decent work in their supply chains and to exchange very concrete examples and solutions to set up and run due diligence processes and audits.Along with business participants, some speakers representing governments, trade unions, civil society organisations were also invited to speak to share their point of view and feed into and enrich the discussion of the business participants.

The seminar in Copenhagen is the first of a series of meetings that will be organised in 2017-18 with the other employers’ organisations partners in the project, notably Medef (France), BDA (Germany), CEOE (Spain) and Confindustria (Italy).

The project on transnational company agreements is at its 4th edition and it aims, among other things, at updating the guide of 2010 with the latest developments in this space. It especially takes stock of the recent agreements signed by multinational companies and global unions, as well as the policy initiatives, like the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, or the national regulatory measures, such as the UK Modern Slavery Act, the French due diligence act, and the Dutch act against child labour.

Ultimately, through the update of the guide and the series of seminars around Europe, the project will generate relevant information for companies to make better decisions on transnational company agreements and for employers’ organisations to assist them.